1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a lever type connector capable of fitting or separating female and male connector housings with little force by a swing operation of a lever.
2. Description of the Related Art
A lever type connector is provided with a lever that is swingably mounted on one connector housing of a pair of connector housings fitted to each other, and help both connector housings to be fitted and separated by an operation of a cap mechanism provided between the lever and the other connector housing, by a swing operation of the lever.
For example, a lever of a lever type connector described in Patent Document 1 has a swing fulcrum portion (swing hole) fitted to a swing fulcrum portion (swing fulcrum protrusion) close to a connector housing on one end side of a pair of left and right lever side plates, and has a substantially U shape having an operation portion connecting both lever side plates to each other on the other side of the lever side plates. The lever has a cap protrusion (or cap groove) engaged with a cap groove (or cam protrusion) of the other connector housing, in the vicinity of the swing fulcrum portion.
In the lever type connector described above, in a step of fitting to an opponent connector in a state where the lever is previously and temporarily kept at a temporary locking portion, the cam groove and the cam protrusion can be engaged with each other even without particularly positioning the lever. For this reason, as an example described in Patent Document 1, a lever is provided with a temporary locking arm, and the temporary locking arm is engaged with a temporary locking protrusion on a connector housing side, thereby temporarily keeping the lever at the temporary locking position.
In this case, the temporary locking arm is provided as a protruding piece having a independent cantilever shape at an outer peripheral portion of the lever side plate, and thus it is possible to bend the temporary locking arm independently in a direction (particularly, outward direction) perpendicular to a lever side wall.
Patent Document 1: JP-A-2005-122942
However, a temporary locking arm is formed in an independent protruding shape. Accordingly, when excessive external force is applied to the temporary locking arm, the temporary locking arm may deviate from a temporary locking protrusion. That is, when strong external force is applied to a lever at the time of keeping or transporting a connector in a temporary locking state, the temporary locking arm is bent in a deviation direction (outward direction) of the temporary locking arm by the force applied to the temporary locking arm, and thus the temporary locking may deviate. When the temporary locking deviates, the position of the lever is not determined and it is difficult to easily fit the lever with a target connector.